Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of manufacturing a patient-customized tibial element. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a patient-customized tibial element for use in artificial knee joint surgery, the method including; forming a tibial element data table regarding sizes of proximal tibial prostheses; manufacturing standard molds able to cover the tibial element data table; selecting a standard mold from the standard molds in order to manufacture a patient-customized proximal tibial prosthesis; and forming a proximal tibial prosthesis fitting a patient using the selected standard mold.
Description of the Related Art
A knee joint refers to a joint formed by three bones surrounding a knee, including the femur, tibia, and patella. The knee joint is a key joint supporting the weight of the human body and is related to exercises, such as walking and running, in which legs move through the joint motion.
An articular cartridge is present on the distal end of the femur, and a meniscus is present on the distal end of the tibia. When the cartridge is damaged due to aging or excessive exercise, the bones may directly touch each other, causing acute pain.
When the knee joint is damaged, an artificial knee joint surgery is performed by amputating portions of the femur and the tibia and transplanting an artificial knee joint. The artificial knee joint is transplanted by connecting a femur-engaging member 91 to the distal end of the femur F, fixedly fitting a tibial element 93 to the distal end of the tibia T, and mounting a bearing member 95 on the tibial element 93. FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an artificial knee joint of the related art, disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1184905 (Sep. 20, 2012).
The tibial element 93 includes a baseplate 931, a stem 933, and keels 935, and is referred to as a proximal tibial prosthesis. Although every patient has a unit bone structure and shape, proximal tibial prostheses of the related art can be fabricated with limited sizes. It is therefore difficult to obtain satisfactory surgery results. After surgeries, some artificial knee joints cause patients discomfort, or in some worse cases, cause complications to patients since the artificial knee joints do not fit to the patients.
Although a method of preparing as many molds as possible in order to manufacture a proximal tibial prosthesis that fits a patient, excessive labor and cost are required, and it is difficult to manage the large number of molds.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for introducing a technology for a method of forming a customized tibial element fitting each patient.
The information disclosed in the Background of the Invention section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or as any form of suggestion that this information forms a prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.